At FSTEC 2025, Qu brought together three industry leaders who are deeply connected to their brands and understand their customers inside and out. On stage:
- Manuel Valdes, CTO, GoTo Foods
- Chris Tebben, President & CEO, Checkers & Rally’s
- Damon Thomas, SVP of Operations, Shake Shack
Each represented a different corner of the QSR world. But the common thread was discipline: staying true to their brands, listening closely to their customers, and adopting technology not as a shiny object but as a strategic enabler of growth.
GoTo Foods: Unified Growth Through Platform Discipline
With seven brands under its umbrella, GoTo Foods faces a different challenge: scaling efficiently while protecting each brand’s identity.
For GoTo Foods, discipline means standardizing infrastructure — a single POS, unified data, and a comprehensive customer profile that drives personalization. The payoff is flexibility: the ability to pilot menu innovations quickly (like the churro ice cream mashup from Cinnabon and Carvel) and make smarter decisions across both guest engagement and supply chain.
Checkers & Rally’s: Value and Focused Execution
Checkers’ turnaround story rests on clarity: delivering everyday value for a price-sensitive guest without compromising long-term health.
That mindset has guided decisions from piloting voice AI drive-thru to reassessing in-store systems. Tebben was candid about moving too fast: “We got a lot of good PR, but we never really thought about how to keep iterating quickly. Quick, but don’t hurry.”
For Checkers, discipline means resisting tech for tech’s sake. Every rollout must solve a defined operational challenge and be measured against clear outcomes — especially in areas like labor scheduling.
Shake Shack: Hospitality at the Core
Shake Shack has always lived in the premium tier, and Thomas was clear that their differentiation isn’t price — it’s hospitality.
Kiosks, often seen purely as labor-saving devices, are positioned differently at Shake Shack. They’re a tool to redeploy labor, freeing team members to engage guests, recover service issues, and elevate the dining experience.
Shake Shack is stepping into the drive-thru arena, exploring a new way to connect with guests. Thomas emphasized that any additions—like combo meals or kiosks—will be guided by one principle: enhancing the guest experience, not just boosting margins.
Panel Takeaways: Discipline Over Distraction
While each brand approaches tech through its own lens, they aligned on key principles:
- Know who you are — and who your customer is. Value, hospitality, or scale: the strategy must match the brand’s DNA.
- Don’t chase shiny objects. Define the business problem first, then match the technology.
- Measure ROI upfront. Establish expected outcomes before rollout.
- Collaborate relentlessly. From franchisees to IT to operations to marketing, alignment ensures adoption and impact.
- Balance efficiency with experience. Tech should never cut the guest out of the equation.
- Pace is a strategy. Pilot quickly, but don’t overwhelm operators or guests.
The Bottom Line
In a year where full-service restaurants outpaced QSR growth for the first time in years, the message from this panel was clear: technology is only as powerful as the discipline behind it.
Checkers & Rally’s leans into value with focus. Shake Shack elevates hospitality with thoughtful tech deployment. GoTo Foods scales through unified platforms and cross-brand collaboration.
Different brands, different strategies — but the same principle: know who you are, stay true to your customer, and let technology serve the brand, not the other way around.
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